In this first‑person testimonial video, Mary Jane (referred to as Marygen) and her husband Bob recount how their encounter with Chiara Lubich and the Focolare Movement reshaped their personal trajectories, marriage, and family life. Mary Jane describes a spiritual awakening at age 14 that redirected her from a career‑focused path toward a vocation of motherhood, inspired by Chiara’s emphasis on the maternal dimension of the divine. She later chose to marry Bob, sharing a vision of a revolutionary, God‑centered marriage and an open, large family. Bob parallels his conversion to Saul’s transformation on the road to Damascus, noting an immediate change in language and behavior, a commitment to service, and a decision to live in the Focolare community of Mariapolis. Together they raised seven children, kept their home open to those in need, and later moved to the United States to serve the Church and the Focolare there. The couple faced significant hardships—including job loss, the launch of a family business, and Bob’s heart surgery—but maintained unwavering trust in God, crediting their faith as the source of resilience. Their story illustrates a lived theology of love, openness, and communal witness rooted in Chiara Lubich’s teachings.
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Hi, my name is Mary Jane. The Contact with Kiara Lübeck for me changed my life. At the age of 14, I found a light so great that it answered all my questions. I decided to change my studies. I wanted to be a doctor, to have time to live, to bring immediately this light to the whole world. The last thing that crossed my mind in those times was to get married because I believed that at that time marriage was the tomb of the revolutionaries and I decided to change the world. So that's how I worked for for 10 years with youth like me, people from all over the world, and was never interested in preparing myself for marriage. The encounter with Mary, our Mother, made me change my mind because I discovered the words of Chiara that the most significant quality of Our Lady was motherhood. I was them, that of age of 24 and decided to marry someone. Someone who worked, who wanted this to change the world and transform marriage life into a revolution of God's love. We wanted to go against the current. Having many children, giving God to them, having our home open to everyone without distinction. We have seven children alive, raised, and they are revolutionary like us. In addition, to continue to keep. Our home open to those who need it. In many cases, they are couples in difficulty. God, as the ideal of our lives, forged our family even with difficulties and defects. The facts that all families have, but the initial life light that never fails to provide to us a bond of love that continues to give us many Possibility of winning the battles. Would not be possible to enumerate all these moments, but Bob is going to say something.
The effect of discovering— my name is Bob, I'm married to Mary-Jane, we are 45 years married. The effect of discovering the beautiful ideal of Chiara and the Focolari Movement in my life could be compared, of course, in proportional dimensions, with the falling of Saul from the horse in his conversion to Paul on the road to Damascus. My change of behavior was noticed immediately by my friends and colleagues in college and in family, By the simple fact that they didn't hear any more swear words coming out of my mouth, and of course there was a radical change in my behavior where I started to serve, to listen, to be friendly with everyone, and especially with the people I didn't get on well before. Meeting my wife, who had the same ideas, we decided to build a family under the umbrella. of the presence of God amongst us, even when times were not so easy. We decided to be— to live in a community of the movement called Mariapolis, which is a city of witness, of mutual love, where most of our children were born. The fact in itself of having so many children was a witness to openness to life and trust in God's providence. The children all grew up in this atmosphere of mutual love and try until today in their lives to irradiate this light. Now that the children are all graduated and have their own life, we came to America with the desire of living for the Church and And for the Focolari here. My wife and I made an option of her not having a job so as to be able to take care of the family. God rewarded me with having a very good job, but from one day to the other, I lost my job with all the children still depending on me, and together we opened a company. And we knew that from then on, every month it was going to be a question mark on how we will survive, which helped us to trust totally in God. Our children all graduated despite moments of suspense, like when I had to undergo a heart surgery. We can witness that after 45 years married, That the most intelligent thing we did was to give our lives unconditionally to God, and he guided us. Thank you very much.
